Upload – Season 2 Premiere (Welcome Back, Mr. Brown)
The job of a season premiere is to carry over any story arcs and subplots established in the previous season’s finale, as well as establish new ones.
The episode and season kicks off with Byron checking him and Nora into a motel, only for Dave to meet up with Nora, and Nora deciding to go with him instead. Dave and Nora then drive into a forest, where Nora abandons her phone and they meet with a Ludd, who escorts them to a Ludd village. Nora meets Matteo, who takes her to a community meeting for the new residents. A few weeks pass by and Nora herself becomes a community leader.
Meanwhile Aleesha is having to deal with Nora’s clients, as well as her own, and Ingrid eventually defrosts Nathan and they go back to their floor. Lucy gives Aleesha a promotion and allows her to hire a temp, Tinsley, so she can cope with the workload. Meanwhile in Lakeview, Nathan tries to get clarity from Ingrid on what she meant by needing to own his scan to protect him, however she avoids answering his question by pointing out that she uploaded for him, he in turn points out that he never asked her to do that.
Nathan then goes to the Lakeview Chapel (in schvitz bath mode) to do online research as an effort to find Nora. He uses the tech penknife (previously named icon) to track her phone, he also tries to hack into her online accounts to try and find her, to no avail. Meanwhile the NYPD Cyber Crimes Unit start a homicide investigation on the assassin who tried to kill Nora in the season finale. Later, Nathan apologises to Luke for being a shitty friend and takes him to the schvitz bath to tell and show him what has been going on. When Nathan tells him about his efforts to find Nora, Luke tells him that she may have moved on.
Meanwhile when Nora is doing a mail run at Tannerville, she finds a public computer, puts on a VR mask, creates a cat avatar, and makes her way to Lakeview. Nathan goes to see Ingrid and she wants to talk. She apologises for freaking him out by uploading and for trying to control him. She also asks him if he fell in love with another upload, he admits that he has feelings for someone but it’s over. She tells him that she figured as much and that no-one will love him as much as her, but she’s not the bad guy and neither is he. Nora, in her cat avatar form, watches them kiss from the balcony. As they’re kissing it’s revealed that Ingrid hasn’t actually uploaded but is alive, in a VR suit, in her bathtub.
The episode ends with Nathan calling Nora, leaving her a message and declaring his love for her, moments later, as she’s drinking with Matteo, Nora feels a phantom phone ping.
Overall I felt that this was a solid start to the season. I’m glad that Nora ditched Byron as he was clearly not going to be a long-term love interest (that and he was clearly a jerk), I also enjoyed the insight into the Luddites and their lifestyle, although they are clearly going to be one of the antagonists this season. I also enjoyed seeing the fallout of Ingrid being uploaded on both her and Nathan, and even the rug being pulled out from under me (and the other viewers) with the twist that she hasn’t actually uploaded. It will be interesting to see how this plays out as the season progresses.
I’m looking forward to reviewing the rest of the season.
Stray Observations:
-There are many callbacks to the first season in this episode:
- Nora admiring a leaf, a callback to Nathan hating the artificial leaves in Lakeview in the pilot.
- Scientists successfully downloading one pigeon’s consciousness into a clone pigeon, and admitting they should have started with a pigeon and not a human in the first place, is a callback to the failed download which aired in the third episode.
- Ingrid complains to Nathan about her flat shoulder blades, a callback to the fourth episode.
-Mildred is now being portrayed by Vic Michaelis after previously being portrayed by Hilary Jardine. This recast has been written in as Mildred getting a new face.
-Apparently Dave’s alias is Mr. Patakoupolis, or he stole a car from a man by that name.
-According to Dave, chess pieces and scrunchies are useful in 2033.
-Apparently in 2033, you can screen chat with Google MD. According to Dave, he was very helpful.
-Nora has never seen “unprinted” or real vegetables before in her life.
-Nora’s window garden wasn’t completely real, the plants she was growing needed some code.
-Aleesha describes Ingrid as a “very difficult Karen”.
-Aleesha hates being called Leeshy.
-Ingrid has a new bed put in Nathan’s room that’s the width of a king but the length of a queen.
-According to Lucy, the crystal thigh-high boots Ingrid wears are worth $20,000.
-Luke describes his life with Mildred as a “24/7 history channel”.
-Apparently the Lakeview Chapel’s options are a movie theatre, mosque, synagogue, and a bowling alley (mentioned by Nora in the pilot). The discontinued options (since the update at the end of the first season) are a schvitz bar, cigar bar, and Starbucks.
-An old man was stuck in the schvitz bath until Nathan reactivated it, due to the update.
-Some of Nora’s online profiles include myspace2, blinkchat, boozebudee, and KFC Twitter. Nathan also logs into her Nitely profile and lowers Byron’s star rating.
-Apparently toasters can kill in the future, if you piss one off it can blow up a car.
-Aleesha used to lie on her resume.
Best one liners and interactions:
- “Ghost boyfriend still ghosting you?” (Dave to Nora)
- “Do you reject technology and all its empty promises?” (Pastor Rob to Luddites)
- “I’m Matteo, it’s like Matt, except I got beat up a lot as a kid.” (Matteo to Nora)
- “It’s how your ancestors got spam.” (Community leader, Rejoyce, to new residents)
- “This is Matteo, a community leader that isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty or make sassy comments.” “I am not sassy.” “He said sassily.” (Nora-Matteo-Nora to the new residents)
- “Did I just get a promotion by complaining?” “I’m actually shutting you up with more money.” (Aleesha-Lucy)
- “Fuck man, it’s like every girl who likes you winds up dead.” (Luke to Nathan when Nathan tells him Ingrid uploaded)
Loveday Writing 